Hi Alec - Is Daito-ryu related to aikido? Yes - - - - and - - - no. Is Daito-ryu related to koryu? Yes - - - - and - - - - no. Is Aikido related to Chinese martial arts. Yes - - - -- and - - - - no. To karate? Yes - - - and - - - no. It seems that, for many readers of the blogs, the "no" shade far outweighed the "yes" in a number of threads, and the "yea sayers" were saying, "No, it's yes." And that, some found quite aggravating. Particularly when the "yes-sayers" added so many negatives. And on the contrary, the "no" sayers often said "no" to the "yes" sayer with the "no" in the middle in such a way that the "yes - sayers" said "no way." [snip]

This is not to say that you cannot say "no" or "yes" on the new subsection or the old, but everyone is asked to be both direct (irimi) and (courteous) tenkan about it - something we all can agree on, yes?

Best

Ellis:

The City of Seattle should have hired you to publicize the vote on the waterfront viaduct that concludes tomorrow.

For those forum readers who may not know (or care), Seattle's waterfront elevated freeway was damaged by the 2001 earthquake. For six years, politicians have been debating whether to repair it or tear it down, and if torn down, whether to replace it with a new, larger viaduct, a tunnel (a la Boston), a bridge across the harbor, or improved local street traffic patterns and mass transit. The City Council finally pitched the matter to the voters with an advisory ballot on which the voters can voice their "yes" or "no" on two separate issues: build a new viaduct (yes/no); build a tunnel (yes/no). That's right . . . one voter could vote to build both a viaduct and a tunnel.